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ffdshow DVD guide :

http://www.htpcnews.com/index.php?option=com_conte nt&task=view&id=132&Itemid=54

A bit older, but still very useful.

If you're just looking for a PVR, ya, you really dont need all _that_ much...

Are you looking to upscale dvd's or playback h264 files, you'll need at least a 3200+ (or maybe a bit less if you only want the h264 playback). There's also sound cards for encoding to dolby digital 5.1 and such, for example, if you're hooking into a receiver and are looking for more than SPDIF playback from DVDs (such as playing games...)

Build Your Own PVR Community Site for news, reviews, howto, tips, and forum.

also see HTPCnews as well.

Not that I've seen. Nor is there something for the Mac. Pity, as a more powerful mini would make a nice HTPC. If you aren't using the AVS forums for your info already, http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/forumdisplay.php?f= 26/ has a forum dedicated to both Linux and Mac OS based HTPCs as well as a main forum for Windows based HTPCs.

As for ffdshow, I wholeheartedly agree on quality of the image it can produce on a powerful enough machine. For those that haven't seen ffdshow in use, http://htpcnews.com/main.php?id=ffdshowdvd_1/ has a nice explanation on how to set it up including pics showing the expected results.

JA

Build your own PVR but then again that's probably no surprise ;)

also a very good resource: HTPCnews

The folks over at http://www.htpcnews.com/ are incredibly knowledgable and friendly. Most forum posts are answered within hours. This is exactly the type of thing that is asked there a lot, so there may even be some older threads that you can search for.

A fast CPU is required if you want optimal image quality with resizing/noise-reduction/sharpening filters (e.g. piping your video through ffdshow for instance). Unless you own a DVD player that costs a few/several grand, an htpc is a good solution that costs much less and does much more.

And no, you can't enable "Hardware Acceleration" (to reduce cpu usage) in your video card for mpeg2 video (e.g. DVDs) and still pipe your video through a software post-processor, it's either one or the other. So a fast cpu is required.

Here is a good beginner's guide to what I'm talking about:
http://htpcnews.com/main.php?id=ffdshowdvd_1

DVDs honestly look a lot better and going back to "regular" dvd video is a big let down that's very noticable.

While i agree there is no way to recover the information, and that their claim is probably totally bogus...

It is probably similar to upconverting projectors. You take a dvd, the image gets processed and upconverted to HDTV res, and ive seen images look MUCH better after this process despite having the same amount of information (thoretically i thought it should look worse since it has to guess the value of all the 'in between' pixels but this doesnt seem to be the case)

I saw a link posted on /. recently that demonstrated this. http://htpcnews.com/main.php?id=ffdshowdvd_1

It is hard to tell me that the first image is better than the second because it is the original information.

I think creative is making a similar claim..they upconvert the file and run it through some post-processing then claim it sounds better than the original cd. Whether this is true or not is obviously yet to be seen.

Wow. It's quite obvious you've never experienced the difference between a progressive scan 480p DVD player, and a good upconverting 720p DVD player. Otherwise you'd realize your statement is nonsense.

It sounds great in theory that you can't make it look any better, but that's just not the way it is in the real world. So perhaps you can see for yourself (as you obviously don't have the various equipment to compare for real, or you wouldn't be saying what you are), see the following link:

Post-processing with FFDShow

The comparisons are purely a result of interpolation, nothing more or less.

I've seen tom's being used for HTPC articles on /. before. But fact is there are better more in depth sources of HTPC information online. These sites and software are dedicated to HTPC and all the of the options associated.

Check these out:
http://www.htpcnews.com/

In particular their forums:
http://www.htpcnews.com/forums/index.php

Some great software:
http://www.meedio.com/
http://www.snapstream.com/products/beyondtv/

In response to the question asking if you can build this for under $200? I have a friend that used a 733mhz P2 with a lower end capture card, the two pieces of software above, a firefily remote (http://www.snapstream.com/products/firefly/) and a bit of reading on those forums.

In short he has an HTPC up and running that cost less than $200 CDN and has more tweakability (is that a word?) than most tivos.

A.C.

I've seen tom's being used for HTPC articles on /. before. But fact is there are better more in depth sources of HTPC information online. These sites and software are dedicated to HTPC and all the of the options associated.

Check these out:
http://www.htpcnews.com/

In particular their forums:
http://www.htpcnews.com/forums/index.php

Some great software:
http://www.meedio.com/
http://www.snapstream.com/products/beyondtv/

In response to the question asking if you can build this for under $200? I have a friend that used a 733mhz P2 with a lower end capture card, the two pieces of software above, a firefily remote (http://www.snapstream.com/products/firefly/) and a bit of reading on those forums.

In short he has an HTPC up and running that cost less than $200 CDN and has more tweakability (is that a word?) than most tivos.

A.C.

One of the things you have to look out for when building one of these with Linux is hardware compatibility. Go to the PVR Hardware Database to see what others are running.

Other interesting links:
HTPCNews
Build Your Own PVR
AVS Forum - they have a Linux section under HTPC.

first, gratuitous link to my site build your own PVR and the byopvr forums.

Anandtech just did a round up of a bunch of windows MCE "certified" hardware encoding tuner cards.

Also HTPCnews did a Review comparing the new ATI 550 theater pro with the venerable wintv pvr150

E.

I stumbled upon this list when looking for frontend choices for my HTPC. Pretty comprehensive - HTPCNEWS

I have my Win MCE 2005 hooked up to my Sony KDF-55WF655 with a DVI-HDMI from Monster through an ATI 9250 card.

When I first boot up the computer, it is always starts in 4:3 ratio 640x480. I have to tweak my ATI settings in order for it to show up in 1280 x 720 which is perfect for 720p. I can't get it display in 1080i. So, every time I boot up, I'll have to reconfigure to get my desktop to display in full 55". I think it's a catch-22 situation. TV needs to detect incoming signal to figure out if it's 480p, 720p or 1080i. Video card needs to detect TV to figure out what is the optimum resolution.

Also, the image seems to be chopped off on all sides. It looks like the desktop is a little too large for the TV. I can either have my Start button or the time on the right but not both. Tweaking the image with Powerstrip will only result in a blank screen coz the synch goes out of whack.

Finally, switching from 2D to 3D and then back to 2D causes the TV to go blank. I think it's a synch issue again. I can go from Desktop to Media Center but going back to Desktop will result in a blank TV screen and I cannot get the screen back up. I can't even switch back to Media Center and get my screen back. The only option is to reboot the machine.

I think I'm going to use a transcoder to link my box to the TV. I am leaning towards the PCI solution from Crescendo, available HERE. It uses a passthrough cable from VGA to the PCI Card and then converts it to Component. It only uses the PCI slot to draw power. The card handles the synching and everything. HTPCNews.com has a review on the PCI card HERE.

You have two options. One is the ATI HDTV dongle that many people have mentioned. It is only compatible with certain ATI cards and it allows you to connect to your HDTV using component cables.

The other option is a transcoder that can be used with any graphics card but is a little more expensive. There is a review of both here http://www.htpcnews.com/main.php?id=transcoder_1

Many posters have said that these converters don't work because you get wonky resolutions where a lot of the screen is chopped off. The key to this is using a program called powerstrip which allows you to custom make resolutions that will turn out well on an HDTV. There is a tutorial here. http://www.htpcnews.com/main.php?id=powerstrip_gui de_1

For great advice, reviews, and forums go to http://www.htpcnews.com/ if you want to learn more about connecting PC's to HDTV's.

You have two options. One is the ATI HDTV dongle that many people have mentioned. It is only compatible with certain ATI cards and it allows you to connect to your HDTV using component cables.

The other option is a transcoder that can be used with any graphics card but is a little more expensive. There is a review of both here http://www.htpcnews.com/main.php?id=transcoder_1

Many posters have said that these converters don't work because you get wonky resolutions where a lot of the screen is chopped off. The key to this is using a program called powerstrip which allows you to custom make resolutions that will turn out well on an HDTV. There is a tutorial here. http://www.htpcnews.com/main.php?id=powerstrip_gui de_1

For great advice, reviews, and forums go to http://www.htpcnews.com/ if you want to learn more about connecting PC's to HDTV's.

You have two options. One is the ATI HDTV dongle that many people have mentioned. It is only compatible with certain ATI cards and it allows you to connect to your HDTV using component cables.

The other option is a transcoder that can be used with any graphics card but is a little more expensive. There is a review of both here http://www.htpcnews.com/main.php?id=transcoder_1

Many posters have said that these converters don't work because you get wonky resolutions where a lot of the screen is chopped off. The key to this is using a program called powerstrip which allows you to custom make resolutions that will turn out well on an HDTV. There is a tutorial here. http://www.htpcnews.com/main.php?id=powerstrip_gui de_1

For great advice, reviews, and forums go to http://www.htpcnews.com/ if you want to learn more about connecting PC's to HDTV's.

Sure looks like it, this taken from another Ahanix D5 review here..

http://htpcnews.com/main.php?id=dvine5_1

Up until recently Uneed International made these cases for Ahanix for the USA Distribution but as of this writing they have severed their contracts and Ahanix has moved manufacturing from Uneed International to another manufacture. In the coming weeks we are expecting to see a whole new lineup from Ahanix due to the fact that Uneed International says they have the patents on these cases and their design (we are assured that there are plenty of the Dvine5's around to satisfy everyone who wants one however).

Stop by HTPC News sometime and do a little research. They're pretty Windows-centric but they're coming around.

"It's called the ATI eHome Wonder, a MCE2004 class (Connexant Blackbird MPEG2) card:"

Interesting, but according to the picture on that page, it can't be a blackbird. Blackbird is the codeword that conexant uses for the cx2388x + cx23415 reference design. That means that a blackbird card has those two chips plus the SDRAM chip that is needed for the xc23415. The picture on the ati page only shows two chips that look like a cx23415 with its SDRAM, which likely is much more similar to the Hauppauge PVR250 than it is to a blackbird. But even then it won't work in as much different software as the others, because according to the page linked below, it has different TV encoder chip than the PVR250...

PVR card guide Linky

on normal difficulty.
So I get no bug. I don't know about the guy earlier bitching about how his little GeForce5200 can't kick out the frames, but my new ATI 9800 Pro sure makes it look damn pretty! I never played the first two Thief games, but this one kicks ass. And looks awesome when hooked up to a bigscreen HDTV.

Why not just build your own media/Home theather PC? It's easy, far more flexible and there are some great freeware apps to do so like

http://www.myhtpc.net

There's a whole community built around these things. Check this out:

http://www.htpcnews.com

You'll need a large hard drive and a decent processor (1.6Ghz or higher is my guess).